Saturday, November 28, 2009

The new start of a new year means yet another Books J's Read list. It will likely contain mostly cozy mysteries, and the occasional non-fiction book, but if you are looking for something to read, and you trust my humble judgement, read on for my list of reads of the year.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Well not only have I been a bit obsessed with soup lately, Brett and I have both been fighting a nasty cold that doesn't seem to want to go away. So soup has been an even bigger part of our lives lately.

Nothing feels better on a sore throat than a flavorful, brothy soup. At least that is how I feel.

I wanted something simple, tasty, and that would also do the trick. I've never been much of a chicken noodle girl (or a "No Chicken Noodle" girl as it now stands), and I really love the taste of caramelized onions, so I thought I'd give this a shot.

It turned out good - darn good, and it was easy to make, and that is the only tolerable cooking that can be done when sick. Not that I don't like quick and easy meals on a good day though either...

Sunday, November 8, 2009

As a vegetarian, I tend to be at a loss for ideas for sandwiches. I don't like tofu or any meat substitutes and one can only eat so much egg salad. We also prefer Mexican food, and I just don't picture sandwiches when I imagine Mexican cuisine.

But you can improvise, no?

I decided to get a bit creative when I saw this gorgeous Sourdough French loaf at the DanJo Farms stand when I was picking up our CSA. Brett and I have fallen in love with the Herb Focaccia, so I decided we needed to try this.

I wanted something spicy, yummy, filling, and at least reminiscent of Mexican flavors, so this is what I came up with...

Combine and cover. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least a couple of hours to allow the flavors to meld.

Once onions and mushrooms are marinated, heat 2 tbsp safflower oil over medium-high heat. Remove the onions and mushrooms from the marinade and tranfer to hot oil.

Cook until caramelized and cook through, about 15 minutes.

Other Fixin's:1/2 loaf of Sourdough French bread, sliced in half1 avocado, smashed with a little lime juice and saltmayo or Veganaise mixed with two chipotle chiles in adobopepper jack cheese or "cheese"Preheat broiler.

Place bread halves on a pan, if using cheese, top one slice of each pair with cheese. Place under the broiler and remove when bread is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Spread chipotle mayo on the "dry" slice of bread and avocado mixture on the cheesy slice, layer on half the onion/mushroom mixture for each sandwich.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I've been on a soup kick for quite some time now, so nobody should be surprised that this is...yet another soup post.

I have been into trying out smooth soups lately, perfecting the arduous process of pressing everything through a wire mesh strainer feels like quite an accomplishment when you get a beautiful tasty soup in the end. And it is a good arm workout.

Monday, November 2, 2009

First off I am not going to bother to make excuses for my absence. Laziness is, of course, part of it, but I've also been writing (135 pages!), reading, cooking, and as you will see, creating invaluable works of art.

Those of you out there who are astute might be wondering why I am talking about homework - I graduated two years ago and have a full-time job, I have moved "beyond" homework. BUT...(of course there is a but or there would be no point in this post), Brett is still in school, having followed along in my footsteps (copy-cat!) in pursuing a degree in psychology even though he doesn't want to actually do anything related to psychology. In both of our defense, the courses are so fascinating and it gives you quite and interesting perspective. I tended to prefer sociology to psychology in all honesty, but at least a degree in psychology is fairly useful in the job market (well, when there was one).

Anyway, he is currently taking Research Design, a core psychology course. I may be giving away the extent of my nerdom here but Research Design was one of my very favorite classes. I recall a fascinating paper I wrote about sampling procedures...you all will have to trust me, it was really an interesting thing to explore in depth but I won't bore you with the details.

MOVING ON.

(I get off on tangents easily.)

One of B's assignments was to watch an hour of television and write down all the commercials aired within a one hour program (there is obviously more that went into it, lest you think upper level psychology courses involve you doing random observations, I just don't want to bore you with the details). B and I, being super nerds, already make comments about the commercials and their content, so I decided I would help him out because, well, I like learning and with B taking it, it is like getting to take the class a second time without having had to fail to do so. Yes, I am that lame.

However, we rarely watch TV besides NFL football and only have one of those digital coverter box things because B's mom got one for us. Our pair of rabbit ears is old and antiquated and because of that, the digital "transition" has been a wee bit on the irritating side. It is incredibly hard to pick up the stations and it requires a lot of jostling around to get reception between the channels. B says there is some boosting thing we can get that would fix that, I've told him he could get one, but we both hate going out places and have just dealt with it.

So, it was 9:00 - what we both thought was a good time to watch TV. Oh - and by the way NBC, I am quite bitter that there was a stupid NICK CAGE movie on last night instead of football. NICK CAGE OR FOOTBALL? C'mon! Anyway, what we ended up finding to watch was something on CBS called Cold Case which has to be one of the worst television shows I have ever seen. I was bored, irritated, confused, and I actually looked forward to the commercials because they were more entertaining. But I am a devoted wife and I said I would write down all the commercials as we watched the show, so I stuck it out (it was tough and tentative at times). I survived by doing some doodling - bad bubble letters, the return of Stickman, bad spelling errors and missing words, it really was what made the time bearable.

I present you - alongside the commercials aired during our 60 minutes of torture they call "entertainment" - my doodles, we thought you might enjoy...

You may need to look at the full screen image to see what they say.

Well, have a good one. I hope to be back soon with some tasty recipes!